Distributed metadata definition and storage in a database system for public trust ledger smart contracts

ABSTRACT

A plurality of metadata entries may be sent from a database system to a distributed storage system via a communication interface. The metadata entries may correspond with a respective plurality of metadata identifiers. A first function in a smart contract deployed on a blockchain may be executed to mint a designated non-fungible token initially owned by a first blockchain party corresponding with a database system account. A first transaction transferring the designated non-fungible token to a second blockchain party different from the first blockchain party may be identified. A second function in the smart contract may be executed to record a second transaction updating an attribute value associated with the designated non-fungible token to include a designated one of the plurality of metadata identifiers corresponding with a designated one of the metadata entries.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent andTrademark Office patent file or records but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

This patent document relates generally to database systems and morespecifically to interactions between database systems and public trustledgers.

BACKGROUND

“Cloud computing” services provide shared resources, applications, andinformation to computers and other devices upon request. In cloudcomputing environments, services can be provided by one or more serversaccessible over the Internet rather than installing software locally onin-house computer systems. Users can interact with cloud computingservices to undertake a wide range of tasks.

Another mechanism for storing information is a public trust ledger, suchas a blockchain. A public trust ledger is a distributed repository inwhich transactions are recorded. Transactions can be monetary, such asrecording a payment, or non-monetary, such as recording a transfer ofownership. A public trust ledger is a distributed repository that ispublicly accessible and that is secured based on cryptographicprotocols.

Cloud computing systems provide platforms for a variety of computingoperations. However, a cloud computing environment is typicallycontrolled by a service provider that supervises and governs theenvironment. A public trust ledger does not depend on a trusted party tomanage it, but does not provide a platform for many of the types ofoperations performed within a cloud computing system. Accordingly,improved techniques for transaction management are desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and operations for the disclosedinventive systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products fordatabase system digital asset creation and transfer. These drawings inno way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made by oneskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosed implementations.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a smart contract overview method,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an ecosystem facilitating interactions between adatabase system and a public trust ledger, configured in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an arrangement of elements in adatabase system, configured in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an architecture diagram of a system facilitatinginteractions between a database system and a public trust ledger,configured in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a smart contract, configured inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a method for creating a digital asset,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a procedure for minting a token,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method for identifying one or moreparties associated with a digital asset, performed in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method for transferring a digitalasset non-fungible token, performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method for transferring a digitalasset fungible token, performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a messaging procedure for transferringa token, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a messaging procedure for creating anaccount, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a procedure for communicating with apublic trust ledger via a non-custodial wallet, performed in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 14 illustrates one example of a method of controlling actionsrelated to a smart contract, performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates a diagram of a public trust ledger synthetic party,configured in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 16 shows a block diagram of an example of an environment thatincludes an on-demand database service configured in accordance withsome implementations.

FIG. 17A shows a system diagram of an example of architecturalcomponents of an on-demand database service environment, configured inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 17B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,configured in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 18 illustrates one example of a computing device, configured inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 19 illustrates a method for generating metadata entries for a smartcontract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates a method for recording metadata entries for a smartcontract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 21 illustrates a method for minting tokens using a smart contract,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a method for updating one or more tokens using asmart contract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques and mechanisms described herein relate to interactionsbetween an on-demand database system and a public trust ledger such as ablockchain. Metadata entries may be generated in a distributed storagesystem, and a token may be minted via a smart contract instance deployedon a blockchain. Then, the smart contract may be executed to determine astate associated with one or more of the metadata entries. In this way,the values of attributes associated with the token may be realized afterthe token is minted, for instance after it has been transferred from theoriginal party that minted the token to a recipient.

An on-demand database system allows entities to store information suchas records of transactions. However, in conventional systems, anon-demand database system is typically controlled by a service provider,requiring parties to a transaction recorded in the on-demand databasesystem to trust that the service provider will continue to exist, willmaintain an adequate level of security, will not permit the transactionrecord to be lost or corrupted, and will generally behave in atrustworthy manner.

Techniques and mechanisms described herein provide for interactionsbetween an on-demand database system and a public trust ledger. A publictrust ledger provides a way to record transactions in a manner that issecure, publicly verifiable, and free from control of any one entity.For instance, the database system may interact with the public trustledger to record transactions related to the creation and transfer ofownership and other rights in digital assets referenced within theon-demand database system. The public trust ledger may then serve as asource of truth that it is independent of the service provider. A trustledger may be variously referred to herein as a public trust ledger or adistributed trust ledger.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein may facilitate the creation of non-fungible tokens. For instance,an entity accessing services via the on-demand computing servicesenvironment can easily and dynamically create any number of non-fungibletokens corresponding with digital assets such as avatars, apparel,characters, promotional material, or any other digital item.

Consider the example of Alexandra, an asset manager for a company “Acme”accessing computing services via the on-demand database system. Acmewould like to create a set of non-fungible tokens to distribute to itscustomers as part of a promotional event. Different tokens may shareattributes (e.g., color) but assume different values for the attributes(e.g., red, green, blue). Acme would like to reveal the attributes tothe recipients of the token only after the tokens have been transferred.However, when using conventional techniques, attribute values fornon-fungible tokens are fixed at the time of minting and thereforepublicly observable to recipients even before the tokens aretransferred.

In contrast, using techniques and mechanisms described herein, Alexandramay store metadata attributes in a distributed storage system, and minttokens that do not include realized values for the tokens' attributes.Then, after a token has been minted and transferred to a recipient, thesmart contract may be executed to associate the token with one or moreof the metadata attributes. In this way, the true content of the tokenis revealed post-transfer via an update procedure rather than at thetime of minting, providing greater flexibility in generating andmanaging digital assets.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein may provide technical solutions that facilitate a variety of newways for organizations to interact with customers. For example, anorganization may employ branded collectibles represented by digitalassets, facilitating expanded community engagement. As another example,an organization may bundle real world and digital experience linked todigital assets. As yet another example, an organization may securelysend exclusive codes for benefits such as early access, discounts, VIPtickets, and gift cards. As still another example, an organization maybuild a loyal base of customers with free or gamified rewards acrossdifferent use cases.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein may facilitate the integration of blockchain data with databasesystem data such as customer relations management (CRM) data andanalytics. For instance, information stored in a database system, suchas CRM data, may be linked with publicly verified information stored ina block chain to provide a combination of control, security, andverifiability. Such linkages may help to support, for instance,partnerships between organizations such as cross-brand partnerships andpromotions.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein may provide for scalability. Conventional techniques forinteracting with public trust ledgers do not support enterprise-levelexchange of digital assets. However, techniques and mechanisms describedherein provide technological solutions for scaling digital assetexchange to the enterprise level, ensuring that transactions can occurquickly and efficiently even at high transaction throughput levels.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein provide for smart contract generation and management. In additionto supporting simple tokens, various embodiments can support modelingcomplex asset classes. For example, smart contracts may include rulesgoverning transactional aspects such as the number of transactions, typeof transactions, and identities of parties.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein provide technological solutions for facilitating interactionsbetween database systems and public trust ledgers such as blockchain.For example, based on these techniques and mechanisms a blockchain maybe used to store verification information, while other types of data maybe stored in the database system. Such configurations can provideenhanced speed, reduced transaction costs, and improved data security ascompared with conventional techniques. For instance, transactions may bepublicly verified while at the same time storing data in a way that isconsistent with privacy regulations.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein may provide for enhanced transaction fee management techniques.When using conventional techniques, transaction fees may fluctuate basedon the state of the public trust ledger. However, in someimplementations described herein, a party may pay a fixed transactionfee to the database system. The fee may be determined based on, forinstance, an asset type, a party type, or other such information. Thedatabase system may then communicate with the public trust ledger torecord the transaction.

In particular embodiments, the database system service provider mayemploy a technology such as the Layer 2 protocol to facilitateinteractions with a public trust ledger. In such an approach, theservice provider may perform operations such as validation and mintingwithin its own blockchain. Then, transactions may be recorded in awidely available public blockchain such as Ethereum. Such an approachmay provide the benefits of publicly recording transactions as well asreducing transaction costs, since more costly transactions may beperformed within the database service provider's blockchain, whileemploying the widely available public blockchain for less costlyrecordation operations.

As used herein, the terms “database” and “public trust ledger” aredistinct. For example, a database system is controlled by a particulardatabase administrator or service provider, whereas a public trustledger is a peer-to-peer system in which transactions are publiclyrecorded in a manner that is outside the control of any one particularorganization.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a smart contract representationoverview method 100, performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The method 100 may be used by an on-demand database systemto generate non-fungible tokens having characteristics that are updatedonly after minting, and potentially after being transferred from theminting party to a recipient.

According to various embodiments, the method 100 may be implemented at acomputing device within an on-demand database system. For instance, themethod 100 may be implemented at one or more computing devices withinthe systems shown in FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

One or more metadata entries are generated in a distributed storagesystem at 102. According to various embodiments, the one or moremetadata entries may be generated at random, for instance by determiningat random various combinations of possible attribute values for a set ofattributes. Alternatively, or additionally, some of the metadata entriesmay be selected for generation, for example by the owner of a smartcontract used to generate tokens relying on the generated metadataentries. Additionally details regarding the generation of metadataentries in a distributed storage system are discussed in additionaldetail with respect to the method 1900 shown in FIG. 19 .

A token is minted via a smart contract instance deployed on a blockchainat 104. The token is then transferred from the minter to the recipientat 106. In some implementations, the token need not be transferred fromthe minter to the recipient in order to perform operation 108. However,transferring the token from the minter to the recipient allows the tokento be updated not only after it has been minted, but also after it haschanged ownership. Additional details regarding token minting andtransfer are discussed with respect to the method 2000 shown in FIG. 20.

The smart contract is executed at 108 to determine a state associatedwith one or more of the metadata entries. According to variousembodiments, the execution of the smart contract may update a metadataentry associated with the token to reference one or more of the metadataentries. In this way, the actual values of some or all of the attributesof the token may be stored in the distributed storage system andrevealed only after the token has been minted and transferred to arecipient. Additional details regarding smart contract execution arediscussed with respect to the method 2200 shown in FIG. 22 .

FIG. 2 illustrates an ecosystem 200 facilitating interactions between adatabase system and a public trust ledger, configured in accordance withone or more embodiments. The ecosystem 200 may be used to implementtechniques described herein, and may be implemented using one or moredevices and systems shown in FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

The ecosystem 200 includes a public trust ledger 202. According tovarious embodiments, the public trust ledger 202 may store informationrelated to digital assets and transactions pertaining to digital assets.The public trust ledger 202 may be cryptographically verifiable. Forexample, the public trust ledger may employ one or more cryptographictechnologies to provide a transparent, immutable, andcryptographically-verifiable log of transactions stored in the database.

In some implementations, the public trust ledger 202 may be configuredso as to provide a single, consistent state at any time, allowingrequests to continue to be processed despite failures or attacks.Requests to update the global state of the public trust ledger 202 maybe implemented in a consistent manner. Such requests may be globallyordered via consensus between nodes.

Replica nodes are shown at 204, 206, 208, and 210. According to variousembodiments, each replica node may be implemented via VMware. However,other types of node management tools may be used instead of, or inaddition to, VMware. A replica node may process requests to verify orchange the state of the public trust ledger 202.

According to various embodiments, the replica nodes may provideByzantine fault tolerance (BFT). In a Byzantine fault, a component suchas a server can inconsistently appear both failed and functioning tofailure-detection systems, presenting different symptoms to differentobservers. It is difficult for the other components to declare it failedand shut it out of the network, because they need to first reach aconsensus regarding which component has failed in the first place.However, the ecosystem 200 may use techniques such as the BFT StateMachine Replication protocol and Merkle Tree data structures to ensurethat the Replica and Client nodes' data are identical and to thereforeprovide tolerance against such faults.

According to various embodiments, interactions with the replica nodesmay be conducted via client nodes, such as the client nodes 212 and 214.Each of the client and replica nodes may implement an applicationprocedure interface (API) such as a Digital Asset Modeling Language(“DAML”) ledger API server. According to various embodiments, DAML is anopen-source smart contract language that aids in modeling agreements andruns on blockchain platforms. DAML Ledgers enable multi-party workflowsby providing parties with a virtual shared ledger, which encodes thecurrent state of their shared contracts, written in DAML.

In some implementations, a client node may communicate with one or moreparties 216, 218, 220, 222 via a network such as the internet. Accordingto various embodiments, a party may be a computing device on which anaccount in the public trust ledger has been authenticated, communicatingvia a secured session. For example, a party may submit a request to aclient node, in accordance with methods described herein. The clientnode may send requests to one or more of the replica nodes and receivethe results of running the requests. A client node may include aprivacy-filtered subset of the state of the public trust ledger.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an arrangement of elements in adatabase system 300, configured in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The database system 300 includes entities representingcrypto transactions 302, crypto wallet roles 304, crypto wallets 306,crypto products 308, assets 310, order items 312, orders 314, orgs 316,users 318, accounts 320, product attributes 322, product attribute setitems 324, product attribute sets 326, product attribute set products328, product categories 330, and products 332.

In some implementations, different entities may be stored in differentdatabase tables. Alternatively, two or more entities may be stored inthe same database table, for instance in a dynamic schema database inwhich the contents of particular fields in a database table row dependon the entity type stored in that row.

According to various embodiments, the wallet table 306 may includeentries that uniquely identify wallets in a public trust ledger. Forexample, an entry in the wallet table 360 may include a wallet IDassociated with the database system and/or an account ID associated withan account in a public trust ledger such as a blockchain. Such an entrymay also include one or more identifiers associated with an org 316, auser 318, and/or an account 320. An org 316 may represent a databasesystem account associated with an entity to which the database systemprovides on-demand computing services. A user 318 may represent a useraccount associated with an individual authorized to perform one or moreoperations with respect to the database system on behalf of an org. Anaccount 320 may represent another organizational or individual entity,for instance one who receives a digital asset created in associationwith an org 316.

According to various embodiments, the crypto wallet role table 304 mayindicate one or more roles assigned to an org 316, user 318, or account320. Such roles may include, but are not limited to: full or partialowner, buyer, issuer, royalty receiver, and modifier. In someconfigurations, a role may be specific to a particular product and/orproduct category.

According to various embodiments, the product table 332 includes entriesthat identify the products to which the digital assets relate. An entryin the product table 332 may include a product ID that uniquelyidentifies the product. The product category 330 may indicate a productrecord type such as an NFT, a branded token, a cryptocurrency, or anyother suitable product type. Attributes of products may be representedin one or more of the product attribute set product table 328, theproduct attribute set table 326, and the product attribute set itemtable 324.

According to various embodiments, the crypto product table 308 includescontent information associated with a digital asset. An entry in thecrypto product table 308 may include a content ID that identifies thecontent and/or a product ID 312 identifying a product to which thedigital asset relates. In some implementations, the entry may alsoinclude or reference digital content. The digital content may include,for example, media data associated with a product. Such media data mayinclude, but is not limited to: one or more videos, animations, images,documents, or audio segments. In some configurations, the digitalcontent data may be stored within the crypto product table 308.Alternatively, or additionally, digital content data may be stored in adifferent location and a reference to that location or data storedwithin the crypto product table 308.

According to various embodiments, the asset table 310 may storeinformation about digital assets associated with tokens. For example, adigital asset may be a fungible token such as cryptocurrency or rewardsprogram points. As another example, a digital asset may be ownership of,copyright to, or some other right related to an NFT. Various types ofdigital assets are possible, and a single product may be associated withmore than one digital asset.

According to various embodiments, an entry in the asset table 310 mayinclude a digital asset ID 310 that uniquely identifies the digitalasset. An entry may also include a digital asset record type thatidentifies the type of digital asset. For instance, the digital assetrecord type may be an NFT, branded token, cryptocurrency, or any othersuitable digital asset type.

According to various embodiments, the crypto transactions table 302 maystore information related to transactions involving the assetsidentified in the asset table 310 and/or the crypto products identifiedin the crypto product table 308. Accordingly, an entry in the cryptotransactions table 302 may include a transaction ID that uniquelyidentifies the transaction and a digital asset ID to which thetransaction pertains. A single digital asset ID may be associated withmore than one transaction. A transaction may be included within an orderitem 312, which may in turn be included within an order 314. In someimplementations, an entry in the asset transaction table 350 may includea transaction status field storing information such as whether thetransaction is pending, canceled, or complete.

The configuration of tables shown in FIG. 3 is only one example of adatabase system configuration that may be used in conjunction withtechniques and mechanisms described herein. According to variousembodiments, any of a variety of database system configurations may beused. For example, two or more of the tables shown in FIG. 3 may insteadbe implemented in a single table. As another example, information shownin FIG. 3 as being stored in a single table may instead be stored inmore than one table. As yet another example, tables shown in FIG. 3 mayinclude other information not represented in FIG. 3 .

In the database representation shown in FIG. 3 , a split connectionindicates a potentially one-to-many relationship. For example, an order314 may include more than one order item 312. However, the types ofrelationships and connections between entities shown in FIG. 3 representonly one possible arrangement of data entities within a database system.In practice, a wide variety of configurations may be used in keepingwith techniques and mechanisms described herein.

In some implementations, the database system 300 may be implemented as amultitenant database. Alternatively, a different type of databasearchitecture may be employed.

According to various embodiments, the database system 300 may includemany components other than those shown in FIG. 3 . Examples of the typesof components that may be included in a database system are discussedwith respect to FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

FIG. 4 illustrates an architecture diagram of a system 400 facilitatinginteractions between a database system and a public trust ledger,configured in accordance with one or more embodiments. The system 400includes an end user 402, an entity 404, a database system 406, a tokenapp 408, a system administrator 410, an API 412, and a ledger 416. FIG.4 illustrates, at a high level, some of the interactions between suchcomponents, interactions which are explored in additional detailthroughout the application.

According to various embodiments, the end user 402 may be a computingdevice associated with a user interacting with the entity 404. Forexample, the end user 402 may sign up to establish a public trust ledgeraccount for accessing digital assets and may purchase, or be awarded,such assets. As used herein, the term “purchase” may refer to atransaction in which a digital asset is acquired in exchange forcurrency. However, the term “purchase” may also refer to other types oftransactions, such as when a user is awarded a digital asset as anincentive or reward.

According to various embodiments, the entity 404 may be an organizationaccessing computer services provided by the database system 406. Forexample, the entity 404 may be a business accessing customer relationsmanagement services, data storage services, or any other computingservices via the database system 406.

According to various embodiments, the database system 406 may beconfigured to provide various services to a variety of entities via theinternet. Such services may include, but are not limited to CRMservices, sales management services, account service managementservices, social media services, and training services. Examples ofcomponents included in a database system are discussed in additionaldetail throughout the application, for example with respect to the FIG.16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

According to various embodiments, the database system 406 may include atoken app 408 for performing operations related to digital assets. Theentity 404 may communicate with the database system 406 to performoperations such as creating an account for the end user 402, request totransfer a digital asset to the user's account, and/or receiveinformation relating to such transactions.

According to various embodiments, the system administrator 410 may be acomputing device authenticated to an individual configured to performadministrative operations on behalf of the entity 404. For example, thesystem administrator 410 may perform operations such as creating digitalassets and associated tokens and/or receiving notifications related todigital assets.

According to various embodiments, the ledger API 412 may provide a pointof contact for interacting with the public trust ledger. For example,the token app 408 may send and receive administrative communicationswith the API 412. Such communications may include, for instance, variousconfiguration operations.

The API 412 may include a DAML API. According to various embodiments,the DAML API may be configured to communicate directly with the publictrust ledger, for instance in a custodial wallet configuration. Forinstance, the DAML API may be configured to perform operations such asspecifying transactions for recording in the ledger 416.

In some implementations, the API 412 may be an interface associated witha non-custodial wallet. For example, a Metamask wallet may be connectedwith the database system. The database system may then communicate withthe Metamask wallet to perform one or more blockchain-relatedapplications. For instance, the database system may send ablockchain-related instruction to the Metamask wallet, where the walletowner may sign the instruction with a private key to perform an actionon the blockchain.

In some implementations, communication with the public trust ledger 416through the API may be role-specific. For instance, a smart contract maybe associated with various roles, such as minter, royalty recipient,administrator, smart contract owner, token owner, and the like.Accordingly, the database system 406, the API 412, and/or the blockchain416 may validate requests to determine whether a requester is associatedwith a role that allows the requester to perform the requested action.Additional details regarding roles are described with respect to thediagram 1500 shown in FIG. 15 .

In some implementations, communication with the public trust ledger 416through the API 412 may include a blockchain parameter. For instance,the database system 406 may support interaction with more than oneblockchain. In such a situation, the API 412 may be used to communicatewith more than one blockchain, and a parameter value may identify theblockchain that is the subject of a particular communicationinteraction. The API 412 may communicate with the database system 406 totailor operations for a particular blockchain. For instance, the systemmay select a particular smart contract byte code implementationdepending on the blockchain parameter.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a smart contract 500, configured inaccordance with one or more embodiments. According to variousembodiments, the smart contract 500 may be used to record transactionsrelated to digital assets in a public trust ledger. The smart contract500 includes a public key 502, a private key 504, a transactioninterface 506, an owner ID 508, a smart contract ID list 510, one ormore item tokens 512, and smart contract metadata 520.

In some implementations, the smart contract 500 is a computer programthat may be included within a public trust ledger such as a blockchain.The smart contract 500 may then be executed to perform one or moreoperations, accessible via the transaction interface 506. Suchtransactions may include, but are not limited to: transferring ownershipof one or more item tokens 512, providing one or more entries on thesmart contract id list 510, and identifying the owner 508.

According to various embodiments, a smart contract may be implemented asa template and one or more instances of the template. For example, atemplate may be created for a particular type of token. Then, aninstance of the smart contract template may be used to store somequantity of the token. For example, an instance of a smart contract maystore one or more NFTs of a particular type and owned by a particularaccount. As another example, an instance of a smart contract templatemay store a quantity of a fungible token of a particular type and ownedby a particular account. An instance of a smart contract template may beidentified by, for example, an execution ID.

According to various embodiments, communication with the smart contract500 may be secured via the public key 502 and the private key 504. Thepublic key 502 is publicly available to anyone with access to the publictrust ledger, while the private key 504 is private to the smart contract502. Any system may employ the public key 502 to encrypt a message thatcan only be decrypted by the smart contract's private key. Similarly,the smart contrast 500 may encrypt a message using the private key 504.Although anyone may decrypt the message using the public key 502, therecipient of the message may verify that the message was sent by thesmart contract 500 by virtue of its being decryptable using the smartcontract's public key 502.

In some configurations, the public key 502 and the private key 504 maybe used to encrypt some or all of the communication with the smartcontract 500. Alternatively, or additionally, the public key 502 and theprivate key 504 may be used to facilitate a key exchange for the purposeof establishing a secure communication session between the smartcontract 500 and another party to the communication session.

According to various embodiments, the owner ID 508 identifies the ownerof the smart contract 500 and the included one or more tokens 512. Theowner ID 508 may indicate an account in the public trust ledger. Byauthenticating as the owner associated with the owner ID 508, the ownermay be able to authorize one or more transactions associated with thesmart contract 500, such recording a transaction transferring the token512 to a different party.

In some implementations, the smart contract ID list 510 may identify oneor more other smart contracts associated with the smart contract 500.For example, the smart contract ID list 510 may identify one or moreother smart contracts that are chained with the smart contract 500. Insome configurations, one or more of the smart contracts identified bythe smart contract ID list 510 may need to be executed in order for thesmart contract 500 to be executed.

In some embodiments, the item token 512 identifies the digital assetbeing transferred. The token 512 includes a token ID 514, a digitalasset ID 516, a token type 518, and token metadata 522. The digitalasset ID 516 is an identifier that identifies a digital asset recordedin a database system. For instance, the digital asset ID 516 maycorrespond with a value in column 314 for an entry in the digital assettable 310.

According to various embodiments, the token ID 514 is an identifiercreated when the token 512 is minted. The token ID 514 uniquelyidentifies the token 512 within the public trust ledger. The token type518 indicates the type of token represented by the token 512. Forexample, the token type 518 may indicate ownership of the digital assetID 516. As another example, the token type 518 may indicate ownership ofone or more rights associated with the digital asset ID 516. Examples ofsuch rights may include, but are not limited to: some or all of thecopyrights associated with the digital asset identified by the digitalasset ID 516, the right to transfer the digital asset identified bydigital asset ID 516, or the right to transfer rights associated withthe digital asset identified by digital asset ID 516.

In some implementations, a smart contract 500 may include a single token512. Alternatively, a smart contract 500 may include more than onetoken. For example, the ERC-1155 standard as well as other types oftoken standards provide for multiple tokens within the same smartcontract 500.

In some embodiments, the token 512 may be non-fungible. However, asdiscussed herein, techniques and mechanisms described herein may also beused in conjunction with fungible tokens.

According to various embodiments, the smart contract metadata 520 mayinclude information stored within the smart contract that may be usedfor various purposes. For example, the smart contract metadata mayinclude information used to determine whether a requested transfer ispermissible. For instance, the smart contract metadata may includeinformation such as the number of times a token may be transferred, theidentities of one or more parties to whom the token may or may not betransferred, or other such constraints. Such information may bespecified in any suitable format, such as JSON or XML.

According to various embodiments, the token metadata may include one ormore attributes of a token minted by the smart contract. For instance,in the case of an NFT, the token metadata may identify uniquecharacteristics of the NFT. In some configurations, token metadata mayinclude a reference to information stored outside the blockchain. Forexample, the token metadata may include a URI or other identifierassociated with information stored in the InterPlanetary File System(IPFS), Filecoin, or other distributed storage system. As anotherexample, the token metadata may include a URI or other identifierassociated with information stored elsewhere in the same or a differentblockchain. As another example, the token metadata may include a URI orother identifier associated with information stored in a differentlocation, such as YouTube.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a method 600 for creating a digitalasset, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. Accordingto various embodiments, the method 600 may be performed at one or morecomputing devices within an on-demand computing services environment.The method 600 may be performed in order to create a digital asset andone or more associated tokens with one or more corresponding smartcontracts.

A request to generate a digital asset is received at 602. According tovarious embodiments, the request may be received within the on-demandcomputing services environment. For example, an asset manager mayprovide user input requesting that the digital asset be generated. Asanother example, a digital asset may be generated automatically, forinstance based on an automated script that is executed at a designatedtime or upon detection of a triggering condition. For instance, when areference to a physical asset is added to the database system, aconfiguration parameter may indicate that a corresponding digital assetshould be created as well.

One or more configuration parameters for generating the digital assetare identified at 604. In some implementations, a configurationparameter may be specified via user input. Alternatively, oradditionally, a configuration parameter may be determined automatically,for instance based on a predetermined configuration file or a defaultconfiguration value.

According to various embodiments, various types of configurationparameters may be employed. Some parameters may relate to one or morerights that may be conferred by ownership of a digital token. Suchparameters may include, but are not limited to: one or more rights to adigital asset, whether a right may be transferred, the number of times aright may be transferred, whether rights are separable or must betransferred together, and whether ownership may be fractional. Someparameters may relate to the nature of one or more tokens. Suchparameters may include, but are not limited to: the quantity of tokenscreated, media content such as images, videos, sounds, or animations forcreating the tokens, and/or one or more templates for smart contractand/or token creation.

In particular embodiments, the one or more configuration parameters mayinclude metadata for generating the digital asset. For example, aproduct object as stored in the database system may be extensible inthat in can include additional metadata. That metadata may include, forexample, structured and/or unstructured data or rules, which may be usedto generate token metadata for storing in the public trust ledger. Thattoken metadata may be used in a variety of ways, such as for validatinga transfer request against one or more transfer rules.

In particular embodiments, metadata may be stored in the public trustledger in a privacy-sensitive manner. For example, personallyidentifying information such as a social security number, email address,or other such data may be hashed, and the resulting hash values storedin the public trust ledger. In this way, ownership of a token in thepublic trust ledger may be tied not only to a database accountidentifier, but also to personally identifying information. Forinstance, a verification process may involve hashing a known element ofpersonally identifier information and ensuring that the resulting hashvalue matches information stored in the trust ledger. However, thepersonally identifying information need not be stored in the trustledger in a cleartext state and therefore need not be publicly andpermanently revealed.

A database system account associated with the digital asset isidentified at 606. In some embodiments, the database system account maybe identified based on the request received at 602. For instance, therequest may be received from a computing device having authenticated inassociation with the database system account.

In some implementations, the database system account may correspond toan individual. Alternatively, the database system account may correspondto a different type of entity, such as an organization.

In particular embodiments, the database system may be a multitenantdatabase configured to store information associated with multipleentities, or tenants, in the same database table. In such aconfiguration, the database system account may correspond to one of thetenants.

A public trust ledger account associated with the database systemaccount is identified at 608. According to various embodiments, thepublic trust ledger account may be identified by consulting acorrespondence table within the database system that links databasesystem accounts with public trust ledger accounts. An example of such atable is shown in FIG. 3 .

A template for generating a smart contract and token for transferringownership of the digital asset is identified at 610. In someimplementations, the template may identify attributes of the smartcontract and/or token such as one or more of the parameters identifiedat 604.

A token assigning ownership of the digital asset to the database systemaccount is generated based on the template at 612. According to variousembodiments, generating the token may involve operations such asidentifying attributes other than those specified in the template. Forinstance, a set of NFTs may be generated for various color combinationsof a digital asset, such as an item of digital apparel that is usable inconjunction with a digital avatar. In such a situation, attributesspecific to the NFT may be combined with the template identified at 610and the distributed trust ledger account 608 to generate the NFT.

The smart contract and token are recorded in a public trust ledger at614. In some implementations, the smart contract and token may berecorded by executing a token minting process. The token minting processmay involve executing a smart contract on a public blockchain, such asthe Ethereum blockchain. However, techniques and mechanisms describedherein are not limited to Ethereum, and instead are applicable to anyblockchain or other public trust ledger that supports smart contracts.The minting process may involve one or more operations such asconfirming the token as an asset on the blockchain, updating the accountbalance of the blockchain account identified at 326 to include theminted token, adding one or more transactions confirming suchinformation to a block, and confirming the block to others within theblockchain network. The smart contract may be executed in part based oncomputations performed by one or more blockchain miners.

In particular embodiments, such as when the token is a fungible token,recording the token in a distributed trust ledger may involveregistering the token in an exchange as exchangeable. Fungible tokensmay include, but are not limited to, branded tokens, cryptocurrency,loyalty points, or other such interchangeable assets.

According to various embodiments, fungible and non-fungible tokens mayvary in any of several ways. For example, non-fungible token may berequired to possess one or more unique attributes. As another example,fungible tokens may be configured so as to be subdividable.

The database system is updated to include the reference to the token at616. According to various embodiments, updating the database system mayinclude generating or updating a database entry to include one or moreidentifiers associated with the token. For instance, a token ID, a tokensmart contract ID, a digital trust ledger account ID, and/or any otherrelevant information may be added to the database system. Additionaldetails regarding the types of information that may be stored aredescribed with respect to FIG. 3 .

According to various embodiments, the method 600 may be performed inorder to generate more than one digital asset. For instance, a set ofdigital assets may be generated for virtual clothing to be worn bydigital avatars. In such a situation, a digital asset may be generatedfor each of a variety of combinations of clothing colors.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a procedure 700 for minting a token,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. According tovarious embodiments, the token minting procedure may involveinteractions between the database system 702, the wallet API 704, andthe ledger API 706.

At 708, upon receiving a request to mint a token, the database systemmay authenticate the party associated with the request to the wallet API704. For instance, the database system may verify to the wallet API thatthe database system includes has access to authentication credentialsassociated with the request issuer.

An issuer party JSON web token (JWT) is requested at 710 and returned at712. According to various embodiments, a JWT is a token that facilitatesthe creation of data. A JWT payload may include JSON that asserts somenumber of claims. A JWT may be signed an/or encrypted. When a request ismade by the database system to mint a token, receiving a JWT from thewallet API 704 allows the database system 702 to interacting with theledger API 706 to mint the token on behalf of the wallet API 704. Thatis, the database system 702 may use the JWT to effectively authenticateas a particular wallet to the ledger API 706. It should be noted that aJWT is only one example of the way in which such authentication mayoccur.

A request to create an asset structure for the token is sent to theledger API 706 at 714, and a response message is returned at 716.According to various embodiments, the request sent at 714 may define oneor more characteristics of the token, for instance as discussed withrespect to the method 600 shown in FIG. 6 .

A request to fund a party account is sent to the ledger API 706 at 718,and a response message is returned at 720 indicating that the partyaccount has been funded. According to various embodiments, the requestsent at 718 may be used to assign the asset to the wallet identified bythe issuer party JWT returned at 712.

At 722, one or more records of the asset or assets are created in thedatabase system. For example, one or more records discussed with respectto the database system 300 shown in FIG. 3 may be created.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method 800 for identifyinginformation associated with a digital asset, performed in accordancewith one or more embodiments. In some implementations, the method 800may be performed at an on-demand database system. Alternatively, oradditionally, the method 800 may be performed at a system configured toanalyze a public trust ledger.

A request message including a request to identify information associatedwith a digital asset is received at 802. According to variousembodiments, the method 800 may be used to identify any of various typesof information, such as a current or previous owner of an NFT associatedwith a digital asset or a digital asset own by a particular party.

According to various embodiments, the request may include any of variousrequest parameters used to query digital asset information. For example,the request may include a token identifier associated with a digitalasset. As another example, the request may include a trust ledgeraccount ID that may own a digital asset. As another example, the requestmay include a database system account ID that may own a digital asset.As yet another example, the request may include a smart contract ID thatmay include a token for a digital asset. Various types of queries arepossible. As still another example, the request may include a digitalasset identifier associated with the database system.

A token ID and smart contract ID associated with the digital asset areidentified at 804. According to various embodiments, such informationmay be identified in any of various ways. For example, such informationmay be included with the request received at 802. As another example,such information may be determined or verified by accessing the databasesystem. For instance, one or more of the tables shown in FIG. 3 may bequeried using information included in the request. As yet anotherexample, such information may be determined or verified by analyzing thepublic trust ledger.

The public trust ledger is accessed at 806 to identify a public trustledger account ID that owns the token ID. In some implementations,information from the public trust ledger may be accessed by syncing someor all of the distributed public trust ledger with a local machine.Alternatively, or additionally, a trusted platform that provides accessto the public trust ledger may be queried to access the information.

The database system is accessed at 808 to identify a correspondencebetween a database system account and a public trust ledger ID.According to various embodiments, accessing the database system mayinvolve querying the table 330 shown in FIG. 3 . For example, a databaseaccount ID may be used to identify a corresponding trust ledger accountID. As another example, a trust ledger account ID may be used toidentify a corresponding database account ID.

According to various embodiments, when an identifier is identified,additional information may be identified as well. For instance,information about an database system account or public trust ledgeraccount, such as the account name or other contact information, may bereturned.

A determination is made at 810 as to whether to perform additionalinformation verification. In some implementations, the determination maybe made at least in part on the nature of the query. For instance, aquery may indicate a request to identify all owners of rights thatpertain to a particular digital asset. Alternatively, or additionally,the determination made at 810 may be made at least in part based on userinput. For instance, a user may provide a request to identify additionalinformation pertaining to a different or related right or digital asset.

According to various embodiments, queries may be linked in various ways.For example, to identify a copyright holder associated with a digitalasset, the system may first identify a token and associated token ownerfor the digital asset. That information may then be used to identify arelated NFT associated with copyright for the digital asset.

A response message is transmitted at 812. According to variousembodiments, the response message may include any or all of theinformation discussed with respect to FIG. 8 , and/or any other suitableinformation.

According to various embodiments, the operations shown in FIG. 8 may beperformed in an order different than that shown. For example, anidentification process may start with a database account ID and thenidentify information such as one or more tokens and correspondingdigital assets owned by a public trust ledger account associated withthat database account ID. As another example, an identification processmay start with a public trust ledger ID and then identify informationsuch as a database account ID corresponding with the public trust ledgerID. Various types and combinations of queries are possible.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method 900 for transferring a digitalasset, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. The method900 may be performed at one or more computing systems within anon-demand database system. The method 900 may be used to transfer one ormore NFTs providing ownership of a digital asset and/or other rightsrelated to the digital asset from a first party to a second party.

A request is received at 902 to transfer a one or more rights for adigital asset from a first database account to a second databaseaccount. In some implementations, the request may be generated based onuser input. For instance, a user associated with one database accountmay generate a request to transfer a right to a second database account.In some embodiments, the request may be generated automatically. Forinstance, the request may be generated when the database system detectsthat a transaction related to a digital asset has occurred.

A right is selected for transferring at 904. In some implementations,the right selected for transferring may be identified in the requestreceived at 902. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more rights maybe selected by a user, for instance by providing input via a userinterface.

According to various embodiments, a digital asset transfer method may beused to transfer multiple NFTs associated with a digital asset. Forexample, a database account may transfer a first NFT providing ownershiprights to the digital asset, a second NFT providing a limited copyrightover the digital asset, and a third NFT providing a right to modify thedigital asset. Alternatively, or additionally, a digital asset transfermethod may be used to transfer an NFT providing rights over a digitalasset without transferring ownership of the digital asset. For example,a database account may transfer a right to modify a digital assetwithout transferring ownership of the digital asset.

A determination is made at 906 as to whether the requested rightstransfer is permissible. According to various embodiments, thedetermination made at 906 may involve determining whether rightsassociated with the digital asset are owned by the first databaseaccount. In some embodiments, one or more rights may be associated withthe first database account by default. For instance, if the digitalasset was created by the holder of the first database account, then thatparty may be assumed to hold copyright, transfer rights, and other suchrights associated with the digital assets.

In some implementations, one or more rights may be associated with thefirst database account by virtue of the first database account owning anNFT associated with the rights. The ownership status of an NFTassociated with the right may be verified in one or more of variousways. For example, the database system may record the current owner ofthe NFT, as discussed with respect to the database system 300 configuredas shown in FIG. 3 . As another example, the ownership of the NFT may bevalidated by consulting the public trust ledger. An example of a methodfor verifying NFT ownership by interacting with a public trust ledger isshown in the method 800 in FIG. 8 .

In some implementations, the determination made at 906 may involveevaluating one or more validation rules determined based on metadatastored within the smart contract. For example, the smart contract mayinclude a rule prohibiting the token from being transferred more than adesignated number of times. As another example, the smart contract mayinclude a rule prohibiting the token from being transferred to aparticular entity.

A determination is made at 908 as to whether to generate a contractualagreement to transfer the right. According to various embodiments, thedetermination may be made at least in part based on the right beingtransferred. For example, ownership rights may not need a contractualagreement to facilitate a transfer, while a contractual agreement may beneeded to transfer a copyright. As another example, a right may betransferrable without a signed contractual agreement in onejurisdiction, whereas a different jurisdiction may require a signedcontractual agreement to effectuate a transfer. Such requirements may bestored as metadata within the database system and/or within the publictrust ledger.

If a determination to generate a contractual agreement is made, then at910 such an agreement may be generated. In some implementations,generating a contractual agreement may involve identifying a templateassociated with the type of rights being transferred and then completingthat template with information associated with the specific transferbeing effectuated. For instance, a template for transferring copyrightover an item of digital apparel for an avatar may be filled out withinformation such as the identity of the party that currently owns theitem, the identity of the party to whom the item is being transferred,and identifying information for the item being transferred.

Approval of the agreement is secured and recorded at 912. According tovarious embodiments, securing approval may be performed in any ofvarious ways. For example, a party may sign an agreement using a digitalsignature mechanism. As another example, an agreement may be printed,physically signed by a representative of the party, and scanned. Theparticular method used to secure approval of the agreement may depend,for instance, on the type of rights being transferred and any specificrequirements (e.g., jurisdictional requirements, requirements imposed bythe parties, etc.) associated with the transfer of such rights.

In some implementations, approval may need to be secured from bothparties. For instance, the transfer of ownership or copyright mayinvolve securing approval from both the transferee and the transferor.Alternatively, approval may only need to be secured from one of theparties. For example, for some rights approval may need to be obtainedonly for the party transferring the right.

A determination is made at 914 as to whether the right is associatedwith an existing NFT. According to various embodiments, such adetermination may be made by querying the database system 300 shown inFIG. 3 .

If the right is not associated with an existing NFT, an NFT andassociated smart contract assigning the rights to the first databaseaccount may be created and recorded in a public trust ledger at 916. Thecreation and recordation of such an NFT may be substantially similar tothe operations 510-516 shown in FIG. 5 .

In some implementations, more than one NFT may be created, for instancein the event that more than one right is selected for transfer. In sucha situation, the creation and recordation of NFTs and smart contractsfor the different rights may be performed as part of the sametransaction.

A determination is made at 918 as to whether to select an additionalright for transferring. According to various embodiments, additionalrights may be selected until all rights identified for transferring areassociated with a respective NFT and contractual agreements have beengenerated and approved wherever such agreements are indicated.

At 920, a transaction transferring ownership of the one or more NFTs isrecorded in a public trust ledger. In some embodiments, multiple NFTtransfers may be grouped into a single public trust ledger transaction.Alternatively, or additionally, an NFT transfer may be treated as adistinct transaction for recording within the public trust ledger.

The database system is updated at 922. According to various embodiments,updating the database system may involve storing an indication of thetransactions recorded at operations 908 or 920. For instance, thedatabase system 300 shown in FIG. 3 may be updated to indicate that thesecond party is now the owner and/or rights holder associated with thedigital asset and that the first party is no longer the owner and/orrights holder.

In particular embodiments, NFT creation and/or transfer transactions maybe combined in various ways. For example, the ERC-1155 standard allowsfor including multiple NFTs within the same smart contract. Such anapproach may help to reduce the transaction costs associated withrecording transactions in the public trust ledger.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method 1000 for transferring adigital asset fungible token, performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The method 1000 may be performed at one or more computingsystems within an on-demand database system. The method 1000 may be usedto transfer one or more fungible token providing ownership of a digitalasset and/or other rights related to the digital asset from a firstparty to a second party.

A request is received at 1002 to transfer a one or more fungible tokensfor a digital asset from a first database account to a second databaseaccount. In some implementations, the request may be generated based onuser input. For instance, a user associated with one database accountmay generate a request to transfer a right to a second database account.In some embodiments, the request may be generated automatically. Forinstance, the request may be generated when the database system detectsthat a transaction related to a digital asset has occurred.

A determination is made at 1004 as to whether the requested transfer ispermissible. According to various embodiments, the determination made at1004 may involve determining whether rights associated with the digitalasset are owned by the first database account. In some embodiments, oneor more rights may be associated with the first database account bydefault. For instance, if the digital asset was created by the holder ofthe first database account, then that party may be assumed to holdcopyright, transfer rights, and other such rights associated with thedigital assets.

In some implementations, one or more rights may be associated with thefirst database account by virtue of the first database account owning atoken associated with the rights. The ownership status of a tokenassociated with the right may be verified in one or more of variousways. For example, the database system may record the current owner ofthe token, as discussed with respect to the database system 300configured as shown in FIG. 3 . As another example, the ownership of thetoken may be validated by consulting the public trust ledger. An exampleof a method for verifying token ownership by interacting with a publictrust ledger is shown in the method 800 in FIG. 8 .

In some implementations, the determination made at 1004 may involveevaluating one or more validation rules determined based on metadatastored within the smart contract. For example, the smart contract mayinclude a rule prohibiting the token from being transferred more than adesignated number of times. As another example, the smart contract mayinclude a rule prohibiting the token from being transferred to aparticular entity.

A determination is made at 1006 as to whether to transfer the entiretoken or tokens. According to various embodiments, fungible tokens maybe configured so as to be subdivided. For instance, a quantity ofcryptocurrency, loyalty tokens, branded tokens, or other such tokens maybe subdivided and transferred only in part to the second entity.

According to various embodiments, whether to subdivide the token ortokens, as well as the amount to transfer if subdivided, may beindicated in the request received at 1002. Alternatively, oradditionally, user input indicating such information may be received. Asstill another possibility, such information may be determinedautomatically, for instance by matching the subdivided portion to aquantity need to complete a purchase.

When it is determined to transfer the entire token or quantity oftokens, then at 1008 a transaction transferring the one or more tokensis recorded in the trust ledger. According to various embodiments, thetransaction may be recorded by executing the first smart contract.

If instead a determination is made to transfer only a portion of thetokens, then at 1010 a balance on the first smart contract may beupdated to remove a first portion of the token or tokens. At 1012, asecond smart contract may be generated that assigns the first tokenportion to the second database account. Then, the transactions arerecorded in a trust ledger at 1014. According to various embodiments,the transaction may be recorded at least in part by executing the firstsmart contract.

The database system is updated at 1016. According to variousembodiments, updating the database system may involve storing anindication of the transactions recorded at operations 1008 or 1014. Forinstance, the database system 300 shown in FIG. 3 may be updated toindicate that the second party is the owner of the token, tokens, ortoken portions that were transferred, and that the first party is nolonger the owner of the token, tokens, or token portions.

In particular embodiments, token creation and/or transfer transactionsmay be combined in various ways. For example, the ERC-1155 standardallows for including multiple tokens within the same smart contract.Such an approach may help to reduce the transaction costs associatedwith recording transactions in the public trust ledger.

FIG. 11 illustrates a messaging procedure 1100 for transferring a token,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. According tovarious embodiments, the messaging procedure 1100 may be used inconjunction with one or more techniques or mechanisms described herein,such as the methods 900 and 1000 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 .

A purchase request is sent from an entity 1102 at 1104. According tovarious embodiments, the entity 1102 may be any suitable entity withinthe database system. For example, the entity 1102 may be a computingdevice authenticated as a user or organization having a database systemaccount. The purchase request may indicate one or more fungible and/ornon-fungible tokens that the entity would like to purchase.

At 1106, upon receiving a request to purchase a token, the databasesystem may authenticate the party associated with the request to thewallet API 704. For instance, the database system may verify to thewallet API that the database system includes has access toauthentication credentials associated with the request issuer.

A buyer party JSON web token (JWT) is requested at 1108 and returned at1110. According to various embodiments, when a request is made by thedatabase system to purchase a token, receiving a JWT from the wallet API704 allows the database system 702 to interacting with the ledger API706 to transfer the token to the buyer's wallet. That is, the databasesystem 702 may use the JWT to effectively authenticate as a particularwallet to the ledger API 706. It should be noted that a JWT is only oneexample of the way in which such authentication may occur.

Exchange services are requested at 1112 and confirmed at 1124. Accordingto various embodiments, requesting exchange services may involve, forinstance, initiating communication with the appropriate node. Forexample, the communication may involve establishing a communication withthe node, verifying that the seller party is the owner of the tokensubject to the requested purchase, and/or verifying that the requestedpurchase is permissible.

A seller party JSON web token (JWT) is requested at 1116 and returned at1118. According to various embodiments, when a request is made by thedatabase system to purchase a token, receiving a JWT from the wallet API704 allows the database system 702 to interacting with the ledger API706 to transfer the token from the seller's wallet. That is, thedatabase system 702 may use the JWT to effectively authenticate as aparticular wallet to the ledger API 706. It should be noted that a JWTis only one example of the way in which such authentication may occur.

At 1120, the database system 702 requests to deposit the token from theseller's wallet. The deposit is confirmed at 1122. At 1124, the database702 sends a request to perform the exchange. The exchange is confirmedat 1126. According to various embodiments, operations 1120 and 1122 mayrelate to, for example, the exchange of payment. The operations 1124 and1126 may relate to the exchange of one or more tokens after payment ismade and confirmed.

The asset account ID is updated in the database system at 1128.According to various embodiments, updating the asset account ID mayinvolve updating a database entry associated with the digital asset toindicate that the purchaser is now the owner of the digital asset.

The asset transaction log status is updated at 1120. According tovarious embodiments, updating the asset transaction log status mayinvolve creating or modifying an entry in the transaction table toindicate that the transaction has been completed.

A request to create an asset structure for the token is sent to theledger API 706 at 714, and a response message is returned at 716.According to various embodiments, the request sent at 714 may define oneor more characteristics of the token, for instance as discussed withrespect to the method 600 shown in FIG. 6 .

A request to fund a party account is sent to the ledger API 706 at 718,and a response message is returned at 720 indicating that the partyaccount has been funded. According to various embodiments, the requestsent at 718 may be used to assign the asset to the wallet identified bythe issuer party JWT returned at 712.

At 722, one or more records of the asset or assets are created in thedatabase system. For example, one or more records discussed with respectto the database system 300 shown in FIG. 3 may be created.

FIG. 12 illustrates a messaging procedure 1200 for creating an account,performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. According tovarious embodiments, the messaging procedure 1200 may be used inconjunction with one or more techniques or mechanisms described herein,such as for example to create an account that may be used to issue orpurchase tokens.

An account creation request is sent from an entity 1102 at 1206.According to various embodiments, the entity 1102 may be any suitableentity within the database system. For example, the entity 1102 may be acomputing device authenticated as a user or organization having adatabase system account. The account creation request may includeinformation identifying and authenticating the entity associated withthe request.

At 1208, upon receiving a request to purchase a token, the databasesystem may authenticate the party associated with the request to thewallet API 704. The wallet API 704 may respond by providing an accountJWT at 1210, configured as discussed with respect to the methods 700 and1100 shown in FIGS. 7 and 11 .

A request user grant token is requested at 1212 and returned at 1214.According to various embodiments, the request user grant token may beused by the database system 702 to uniquely identify a new user beingcreated. The new user may be associated with a new wallet created basedon interacting with the wallet API 704, and the user's informationrecorded in the ledger API 706.

A request to create a party is sent to the wallet API at 1216, and theparty's ID is returned at 1218. The party's ID is stamped on theentity's database system account at 1228. According to variousembodiments, the party ID may uniquely identify the party in thedistributed trust ledger.

At 1220, a request to record the creation of the party account in thepublic trust ledger is sent to the ledger API 706. A confirmation thatthe party account was recorded is returned at 1222.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a procedure 1300 for communicatingwith a public trust ledger via a non-custodial wallet, performed inaccordance with one or more embodiments. According to variousembodiments, various procedures discussed herein are described in thecontext of a custodial wallet configuration, in which the databasesystem maintains credentials associated with a wallet. However, any ofthese procedures may be adapted to a non-custodial configuration, asdiscussed with respect to the procedure 1300 shown in FIG. 13 .

An authentication process is performed at 1308. According to variousembodiments, the authentication process may involve establishing asecure connection between the database system 1302 and a non-custodialwallet. The non-custodial wallet may be located, for instance, at alocal or cloud computing location controlled by an organization orindividual associated with a database system account. The authenticationprocess may involve the owner of the database system account connectingthe wallet to the database system as a decentralized application.

A request is transmitted from the wallet API 1304 (or the owner of thedatabase system) to the database system 1302 at 1310. According tovarious embodiments, the request may be any request in the context oftechniques and mechanisms described herein. For instance, the requestmay involve configurating a smart contract for deployment on theblockchain, or a request to mint a token for a smart contract deployedon the blockchain.

A blockchain transaction or other instruction is sent from the databasesystem 1302 to the wallet API 1304 at 1312. According to variousembodiments, the transaction may involve deploying a smart contract tothe blockchain, minting a token, or some other blockchain-relatedaction.

At 1314, the owner of the database system account signs the transactionand records it to the blockchain. At that point, the transaction isexecuted. For example, a smart contract may be deployed, a token may beminted, or a token may be transferred.

The owner of the database system account may send a response to thedatabase system at 1316 indicating that the transaction has beenrecorded. Moreover, the database system may directly observe theblockchain at 1316. Collectively this information may be used to updateone or more records at the database system to reflect transactions thathave occurred in the blockchain.

FIG. 14 illustrates one example of a method 1400 of controlling actionsrelated to a smart contract, configured in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The method 1400 may be used to determine whether to permitan action such as minting a new token with a smart contract ortransferring a token from one party to another.

According to various embodiments, the method 1400 may be implemented byone or more computing devices within a computing system such as theon-demand database systems discussed with respect to FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A,FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 . However, as discussed below, the method 1400 maybe used to control access to such actions even when they are initiatedoutside the on-demand database system.

A request to perform an action related to a smart contract is receivedat 1402. According to various embodiments, any of various types ofactions may be requested. Such actions may include, but are not limitedto: minting a new token, transferring a token from one party to another,changing a mutable value associated with a token, changing a roleassociated with the smart contract, or any other suitable type ofaction.

In some implementations, the request may be received directly at thedatabase system. For example, as discussed herein, the database systemmay act on behalf of parties to perform actions with respect to theblockchain. The database system may maintain, for instance, a privatekey associated with an account within a blockchain, and then use aprivate key to act on the party's behalf.

In some embodiments, the request may instead be received from outsidethe database system. For example, the database system may provide anapplication procedure interface (API) for responding to actionauthorization requests. Then, a smart contract that includes an actioncontrol function may be deployed to the blockchain. When the smartcontract is executed and receives a request to perform an action, theaction control function may first communicate with the API as an oracleoutside the smart contract to provide to the smart contract an indicateas to whether the action is permitted.

One or more wallets, wallet roles, database system accounts, and/ortokens associated with the request are identified at 1404. In someimplementations, such wallets, roles, accounts, and/or tokens may beknown to the database system. The database system may know of suchinformation either because the smart contracts and tokens were createdby the database system. Alternatively, the database system may know ofsuch information because such information was previously imported intothe database system.

In some configurations, such wallets, roles, accounts, and/or tokens maynot be known to the database system. In such a situation, suchinformation may be retrieved directly from the blockchain, viaoperations such as those discussed with respect to the method 1300 shownin FIG. 13 .

Risk assessment information associated with the request is identified at1406. In some embodiments, risk assessment information may be identifiedby consulting one or more third-party security information providers.Alternatively, such information may be identified directly by thedatabase system itself.

According to various embodiments, any or all of a variety of informationmay be identified related to security, legality, and/or risk. Forexample, a wallet involved in a requested transaction may have beenfunded by a bank account that has been identified as being associatedwith fraudulent activity. As another example, an account associated witha selected transaction may be identified as having been associated withwash trading, where a token is sold from one account associated with aparty to a different account associated with the same party at anexorbitant price. As yet another example, an account associated with aselected transaction may have been identified as attempting tocircumvent a restriction such as a maximum number of tokens of aparticular type owned by a particular owner through establishingmultiple wallets and/or related accounts.

One or more security restrictions associated with the request areidentified at 1408. According to various embodiments, any or all of avariety of security restrictions may be applicable. For example, thedatabase system may impose one or more restrictions based on a legalregime outside the database system. As another example, the databasesystem may impose one or more restrictions to all transactions performedwith smart contracts controlled by the database system. As yet anotherexample, an account related to the transaction, such as the owner of thecollection of NFTs minted by the smart contract, may impose one or moresecurity restrictions on transactions pertaining to the minted NFTs.

According to various embodiments, such security restrictions may bestored within the database system, and may be specified at the level ofthe database system as a whole, an individual entity within the databasesystem, a smart contract, a token, or any other suitable unit ofanalysis.

According to various embodiments, security restrictions may takepotentially many forms. Such forms may include, but are not limited to:a maximum price associated with a token transfer, a maximum number oftokens that may be held by a single account, one or more characteristicsof accounts that may not purchase or sell tokens, a maximum risk scoreassociated with an account, any other suitable restrictions, orcombinations thereof.

A determination is made at 1410 as to whether the requested action ispermitted under the security restrictions, based on the risk assessmentinformation. In some implementations, the determination may be made byapplying the security restrictions identified at 1408 to the requestedaction in view of the risk assessment information identified at 1406.

If the action is permitted, then the requested action is performed at1412. A response message is transmitted at 1414. In some embodiments,the requested action may be performed in the blockchain by the databasesystem itself, as discussed herein. Alternatively, if the databasesystem exposes an API that serves as an oracle for transactionsconducted on the blockchain outside the database system, then thedatabase system may transmit a response message to the smart contractthat transmitted the request received at 1402.

According to various embodiments, the method 1400 may be used to allowthe owner of a smart contract to pause and/or resume trading of tokensminted via the smart contract. For example, the owner of the smartcontract may implement a rule pausing trading of a designated token orset of tokens. For example, the owner of the smart contract mayimplement a rule pausing trading to or from a designated wallet address.For example, the owner of the smart contract may implement a rulepausing trading of all tokens minted by a designated smart contract.

According to various embodiments, the method 1400 may be used to allowthe owner of a smart contract to pause and/or resume trading of tokensminted via the smart contract. For example, the owner of the smartcontract may implement a rule pausing trading of a designated token orset of tokens. For example, the owner of the smart contract mayimplement a rule pausing trading to or from a designated wallet address.For example, the owner of the smart contract may implement a rulepausing trading of all tokens minted by a designated smart contract.

FIG. 15 illustrates a diagram of a public trust ledger synthetic party1500, configured in accordance with one or more embodiments. The publictrust ledger synthetic party 1500 includes an owner party 1502, one ormore subordinate parties 1504, one or more public trust ledger syntheticparty permission rules 1514, and a smart contract template 1520. Theowner party 1502 includes an database system owner account ID 1506, oneor more public trust ledger synthetic party keys 1508, and a publictrust ledger owner ID 1522. The subordinate parties 1504 include thedatabase system account ID A 1510 through the database system account IDN 1512. The public trust ledger synthetic party permission rules 1514include the rule 1 1516 through the rule K 1518.

According to various embodiments, the public trust ledger syntheticparty may be created in a database system. The public trust ledgersynthetic party may be used to allow more than one entity to performactions related to a smart contract template or instances of a smartcontract template. For example, the entity that owns the public trustledger synthetic party may perform actions such as minting tokens usingthe smart contract template 1520 and burning tokens created using thesmart contract template 1520. The entity that owns the public trustledger synthetic party may also delegate various types of actions to oneor more of the subordinate parties. For instance, a subordinate partymay be authorized to transfer a token between two parties.

In some implementations, the owner party 1502 may be the party thatexercises ultimate authority over the smart contract template orcontract templates owned by the synthetic party 1500. For instance, theowner party 1502 may be the party that created or instigated thecreation of the public trust ledger synthetic party and/or the smartcontract template 1520.

According to various embodiments, the owner party 1502 may be identifiedwithin the database system by the database system account owner accountID 1506. For example, the owner party 1502 may be an entity such as anorganization or individual accessing on-demand computer services via theon-demand database system.

According to various embodiments, the owner party 1502 may be identifiedon the public trust ledger by the public trust ledger owner id 1522. Forinstance, the public trust ledger owner id 1522 may be a uniqueidentifier associated with a specific public trust ledger outside thedatabase system. The public trust ledger may be the external location onwhich the smart contract template 1520 is recorded and on whichtransactions related to one or more tokens minted based on the smartcontract template 1520 are stored.

In some implementations, the database system may manage interactionswith the public trust ledger related to the smart contract template 1520and/or instances of the smart contract template 1520 using the publictrust ledger synthetic party keys 1522. The public trust ledgersynthetic party keys 1522 may include one or more private keys forauthenticating public trust ledger transactions by the public trustledger owner ID 1522. Typically, a public trust ledger allows for only asingle owner, designated by a public trust ledger account ID, for aparticular smart contract. Accordingly, to facilitate transactions withthe public trust ledger, the public trust ledger synthetic party keys1508 may be stored within the database system.

In some implementations, the public trust ledger synthetic party keys1508 may be generated within the public trust ledger by the owner partyand then provided to the database system for storage. Alternatively, thedatabase system may generate the public trust ledger synthetic partykeys 1508 on behalf of the owner party. In either case, the owner partymay be able to request the public trust ledger synthetic party keys 1508from the database system and/or change the public trust ledger syntheticparty keys within the public trust ledger. In particular embodiments,the public trust ledger synthetic party keys 1508 may be stored within apublic trust ledger wallet, which in turn may be stored in the databasesystem.

According to various embodiments, the subordinate parties 1504 includeone or more database system account IDs associated with accounts withinthe database system. Each database system account may correspond with anindividual or an organization such as a company accessing on-demandcomputing services via the database system. Subordinate parties may beidentified by the creator of the public trust ledger synthetic party1500. Additional details regarding the creation of the public trustledger synthetic party 1500 are discussed with respect to the method2400 shown in FIG. 24 .

According to various embodiments, the smart contract template 1520 maybe any smart contract created in accordance with techniques andmechanisms described herein. The smart contract template may specify oneor more rules for creating fungible and/or non-fungible tokens. Suchtokens may then be embedded in one or more instances of the smartcontract template 1520. Then, the one or more instances of the smartcontract template 1520 may be used to perform actions such astransferring the tokens between parties, with those transactions beingrecorded on a public trust ledger. Although only a single smart contracttemplate 1520 is shown in FIG. 15 , in some implementations a publictrust ledger synthetic party may be associated with more than one smartcontract template.

In some implementations, the public trust ledger synthetic partypermission rules 1514 include one or more rules related to actions thatsubordinate parties may take with respect to the smart contract template1520 and/or instances of the smart contract template 1520. For example,a rule may identify one or more subordinate parties who are authorizedto transfer a token minted based on the smart contract template 1520 toanother party. As another example, a rule may identify one or moresubordinate parties who are authorized to update a value stored withinan instance of the smart contract template 1520.

In particular embodiments, a public trust ledger synthetic party maysupport the creation of jointly managed assets. For example, a set ofcompanies such as an airline group may collaborate to create a jointloyalty point system in which points may be used among the differentcompanies within the group.

According to various embodiments, FIG. 15 illustrates an implementationin which multiple parties may be authorized to performblockchain-related interactions for a single smart contract via adatabase system. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of theroles represented in FIG. 15 may be implemented in the blockchainitself. For example, a smart contract may be configured to includevarious roles associated with various types of authorized actions, andvarious blockchain account identifiers may be assigned those variousroles within the smart contract itself. In such a configuration, it maybe the case that party keys 1508 may not be stored within the databasesystem. Instead, the owner party 1502 may interact with the smartcontract template 1520 via one or more non-custodial wallets. Further,one or more of the subordinate parties 1510-1512 may interact with thesmart contract template 1520 via a respective non-custodial walletconfiguration.

FIG. 16 shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 1610 thatincludes an on-demand database service configured in accordance withsome implementations. Environment 1610 may include user systems 1612,network 1614, database system 1616, processor system 1617, applicationplatform 1618, network interface 1620, tenant data storage 1622, tenantdata 1623, system data storage 1624, system data 1625, program code1626, process space 1628, User Interface (UI) 1630, Application ProgramInterface (API) 1632, PL/SOQL 1634, save routines 1636, applicationsetup mechanism 1638, application servers 1650-1 through 1650-N, systemprocess space 1652, tenant process spaces 1654, tenant managementprocess space 1660, tenant storage space 1662, user storage 1664, andapplication metadata 1666. Some of such devices may be implemented usinghardware or a combination of hardware and software and may beimplemented on the same physical device or on different devices. Thus,terms such as “data processing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and“device” as used herein are not limited to a single hardware device, butrather include any hardware and software configured to provide thedescribed functionality.

An on-demand database service, implemented using system 1616, may bemanaged by a database service provider. Some services may storeinformation from one or more tenants into tables of a common databaseimage to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). As used herein, eachMTS could include one or more logically and/or physically connectedservers distributed locally or across one or more geographic locations.Databases described herein may be implemented as single databases,distributed databases, collections of distributed databases, or anyother suitable database system. A database image may include one or moredatabase objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS) or asimilar system may execute storage and retrieval of information againstthese objects.

In some implementations, the application platform 1618 may be aframework that allows the creation, management, and execution ofapplications in system 1616. Such applications may be developed by thedatabase service provider or by users or third-party applicationdevelopers accessing the service. Application platform 1618 includes anapplication setup mechanism 1638 that supports application developers'creation and management of applications, which may be saved as metadatainto tenant data storage 1622 by save routines 1636 for execution bysubscribers as one or more tenant process spaces 1654 managed by tenantmanagement process 1660 for example. Invocations to such applicationsmay be coded using PL/SOQL 1634 that provides a programming languagestyle interface extension to API 1632. A detailed description of somePL/SOQL language implementations is discussed in commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TODEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, byCraig Weissman, issued on Jun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety and for all purposes. Invocations toapplications may be detected by one or more system processes. Suchsystem processes may manage retrieval of application metadata 1666 for asubscriber making such an invocation. Such system processes may alsomanage execution of application metadata 1666 as an application in avirtual machine.

In some implementations, each application server 1650 may handlerequests for any user associated with any organization. A load balancingfunction (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) may distribute requests tothe application servers 1650 based on an algorithm such asleast-connections, round robin, observed response time, etc. Eachapplication server 1650 may be configured to communicate with tenantdata storage 1622 and the tenant data 1623 therein, and system datastorage 1624 and the system data 1625 therein to serve requests of usersystems 1612. The tenant data 1623 may be divided into individual tenantstorage spaces 1662, which can be either a physical arrangement and/or alogical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage space 1662, userstorage 1664 and application metadata 1666 may be similarly allocatedfor each user. For example, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU)items might be stored to user storage 1664. Similarly, a copy of MRUitems for an entire tenant organization may be stored to tenant storagespace 1662. A UI 1630 provides a user interface and an API 1632 providesan application programming interface to system 1616 resident processesto users and/or developers at user systems 1612.

System 1616 may implement a web-based digital asset management system.For example, in some implementations, system 1616 may includeapplication servers configured to implement and execute softwareapplications related to creation, managing, and transferring digitalassets. The application servers may be configured to provide relateddata, code, forms, web pages and other information to and from usersystems 1612. Additionally, the application servers may be configured tostore information to, and retrieve information from a database system.Such information may include related data, objects, and/or Webpagecontent. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may bestored in the same physical database object in tenant data storage 1622,however, tenant data may be arranged in the storage medium(s) of tenantdata storage 1622 so that data of one tenant is kept logically separatefrom that of other tenants. In such a scheme, one tenant may not accessanother tenant's data, unless such data is expressly shared.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 16 include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,user system 1612 may include processor system 1612A, memory system1612B, input system 1612C, and output system 1612D. A user system 1612may be implemented as any computing device(s) or other data processingapparatus such as a mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet, desktopcomputer, or network of computing devices. User system 12 may run aninternet browser allowing a user (e.g., a subscriber of an MTS) of usersystem 1612 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available from system 1616 over network 1614. Network 1614may be any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another, such as any one or any combination of aLAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), wireless network, orother appropriate configuration.

The users of user systems 1612 may differ in their respectivecapacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 1612 to accessinformation may be determined at least in part by “permissions” of theparticular user system 1612. As discussed herein, permissions generallygovern access to computing resources such as data objects, components,and other entities of a computing system, such as a digital assetmanagement system, a social networking system, and/or a CRM databasesystem. “Permission sets” generally refer to groups of permissions thatmay be assigned to users of such a computing environment. For instance,the assignments of users and permission sets may be stored in one ormore databases of System 1616. Thus, users may receive permission toaccess certain resources. A permission server in an on-demand databaseservice environment can store criteria data regarding the types of usersand permission sets to assign to each other. For example, a computingdevice can provide to the server data indicating an attribute of a user(e.g., geographic location, industry, role, level of experience, etc.)and particular permissions to be assigned to the users fitting theattributes. Permission sets meeting the criteria may be selected andassigned to the users. Moreover, permissions may appear in multiplepermission sets. In this way, the users can gain access to thecomponents of a system.

In some an on-demand database service environments, an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) may be configured to expose a collection ofpermissions and their assignments to users through appropriatenetwork-based services and architectures, for instance, using SimpleObject Access Protocol (SOAP) Web Service and Representational StateTransfer (REST) APIs.

In some implementations, a permission set may be presented to anadministrator as a container of permissions. However, each permission insuch a permission set may reside in a separate API object exposed in ashared API that has a child-parent relationship with the same permissionset object. This allows a given permission set to scale to millions ofpermissions for a user while allowing a developer to take advantage ofjoins across the API objects to query, insert, update, and delete anypermission across the millions of possible choices. This makes the APIhighly scalable, reliable, and efficient for developers to use.

In some implementations, a permission set API constructed using thetechniques disclosed herein can provide scalable, reliable, andefficient mechanisms for a developer to create tools that manage auser's permissions across various sets of access controls and acrosstypes of users. Administrators who use this tooling can effectivelyreduce their time managing a user's rights, integrate with externalsystems, and report on rights for auditing and troubleshooting purposes.By way of example, different users may have different capabilities withregard to accessing and modifying application and database information,depending on a user's security or permission level, also calledauthorization. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at onepermission level may have access to applications, data, and databaseinformation accessible by a lower permission level user, but may nothave access to certain applications, database information, and dataaccessible by a user at a higher permission level.

As discussed above, system 1616 may provide on-demand database serviceto user systems 1612 using an MTS arrangement. By way of example, onetenant organization may be a company that employs a sales force whereeach salesperson uses system 1616 to manage their sales process. Thus, auser in such an organization may maintain contact data, leads data,customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data,etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., intenant data storage 1622). In this arrangement, a user may manage his orher sales efforts and cycles from a variety of devices, since relevantdata and applications to interact with (e.g., access, view, modify,report, transmit, calculate, etc.) such data may be maintained andaccessed by any user system 1612 having network access.

When implemented in an MTS arrangement, system 1616 may separate andshare data between users and at the organization-level in a variety ofmanners. For example, for certain types of data each user's data mightbe separate from other users' data regardless of the organizationemploying such users. Other data may be organization-wide data, which isshared or accessible by several users or potentially all users form agiven tenant organization. Thus, some data structures managed by system1616 may be allocated at the tenant level while other data structuresmight be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might supportmultiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS may havesecurity protocols that keep data, applications, and application useseparate. In addition to user-specific data and tenant-specific data,system 1616 may also maintain system-level data usable by multipletenants or other data. Such system-level data may include industryreports, news, postings, and the like that are sharable between tenantorganizations.

In some implementations, user systems 1612 may be client systemscommunicating with application servers 1650 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 1616. By way of example,user systems 1612 may send one or more queries requesting data of adatabase maintained in tenant data storage 1622 and/or system datastorage 1624. An application server 1650 of system 1616 mayautomatically generate one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or more SQLqueries) that are designed to access the requested data. System datastorage 1624 may generate query plans to access the requested data fromthe database.

The database systems described herein may be used for a variety ofdatabase applications. By way of example, each database can generally beviewed as a collection of objects, such as a set of logical tables,containing data fitted into predefined categories. A “table” is onerepresentation of a data object, and may be used herein to simplify theconceptual description of objects and custom objects according to someimplementations. It should be understood that “table” and “object” maybe used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one ormore data categories logically arranged as columns or fields in aviewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an instance ofdata for each category defined by the fields. For example, a CRMdatabase may include a table that describes a customer with fields forbasic contact information such as name, address, phone number, faxnumber, etc. Another table might describe a purchase order, includingfields for information such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc.In some multi-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might beprovided for use by all tenants. In some implementations, entity tablesmay store information related to smart contracts and/or digital assetmanagement. For CRM database applications, such standard entities mightinclude tables for case, account, contact, lead, and opportunity dataobjects, each containing pre-defined fields. It should be understoodthat the word “entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with“object” and “table”.

In some implementations, tenants may be allowed to create and storecustom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standard entities orobjects, for example by creating custom fields for standard objects,including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASESYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teachessystems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizingstandard objects in an MTS. In certain implementations, for example, allcustom entity data rows may be stored in a single multi-tenant physicaltable, which may contain multiple logical tables per organization. Itmay be transparent to customers that their multiple “tables” are in factstored in one large table or that their data may be stored in the sametable as the data of other customers.

FIG. 17A shows a system diagram of an example of architecturalcomponents of an on-demand database service environment 1700, configuredin accordance with some implementations. A client machine located in thecloud 1704 may communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment via one or more edge routers 1708 and 1712. A client machinemay include any of the examples of user systems 812 described above. Theedge routers 1708 and 1712 may communicate with one or more coreswitches 1720 and 1724 via firewall 1716. The core switches maycommunicate with a load balancer 1728, which may distribute server loadover different pods, such as the pods 1740 and 1744 by communication viapod switches 1732 and 1736. The pods 1740 and 1744, which may eachinclude one or more servers and/or other computing resources, mayperform data processing and other operations used to provide on-demandservices. Components of the environment may communicate with a databasestorage 1756 via a database firewall 1748 and a database switch 1752.

Accessing an on-demand database service environment may involvecommunications transmitted among a variety of different components. Theenvironment 1700 is a simplified representation of an actual on-demanddatabase service environment. For example, some implementations of anon-demand database service environment may include anywhere from one tomany devices of each type. Additionally, an on-demand database serviceenvironment need not include each device shown, or may includeadditional devices not shown, in FIGS. 17A and 17B.

The cloud 1704 refers to any suitable data network or combination ofdata networks, which may include the Internet. Client machines locatedin the cloud 1704 may communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment 1700 to access services provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment 1700. By way of example, client machines may accessthe on-demand database service environment 1700 to retrieve, store,edit, and/or process public trust ledger and/or digital asset creation,management, and transfer information.

In some implementations, the edge routers 1708 and 1712 route packetsbetween the cloud 1704 and other components of the on-demand databaseservice environment 1700. The edge routers 1708 and 1712 may employ theBorder Gateway Protocol (BGP). The edge routers 1708 and 1712 maymaintain a table of IP networks or ‘prefixes’, which designate networkreachability among autonomous systems on the internet.

In one or more implementations, the firewall 1716 may protect the innercomponents of the environment 1700 from internet traffic. The firewall1716 may block, permit, or deny access to the inner components of theon-demand database service environment 1700 based upon a set of rulesand/or other criteria. The firewall 1716 may act as one or more of apacket filter, an application gateway, a stateful filter, a proxyserver, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 1720 and 1724 may behigh-capacity switches that transfer packets within the environment1700. The core switches 1720 and 1724 may be configured as networkbridges that quickly route data between different components within theon-demand database service environment. The use of two or more coreswitches 1720 and 1724 may provide redundancy and/or reduced latency.

In some implementations, communication between the pods 1740 and 1744may be conducted via the pod switches 1732 and 1736. The pod switches1732 and 1736 may facilitate communication between the pods 1740 and1744 and client machines, for example via core switches 1720 and 1724.Also or alternatively, the pod switches 1732 and 1736 may facilitatecommunication between the pods 1740 and 1744 and the database storage1756. The load balancer 1728 may distribute workload between the pods,which may assist in improving the use of resources, increasingthroughput, reducing response times, and/or reducing overhead. The loadbalancer 1728 may include multilayer switches to analyze and forwardtraffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 1756 may beguarded by a database firewall 1748, which may act as a computerapplication firewall operating at the database application layer of aprotocol stack. The database firewall 1748 may protect the databasestorage 1756 from application attacks such as structure query language(SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorized informationdisclosure. The database firewall 1748 may include a host using one ormore forms of reverse proxy services to proxy traffic before passing itto a gateway router and/or may inspect the contents of database trafficand block certain content or database requests. The database firewall1748 may work on the SQL application level atop the TCP/IP stack,managing applications' connection to the database or SQL managementinterfaces as well as intercepting and enforcing packets traveling to orfrom a database network or application interface.

In some implementations, the database storage 1756 may be an on-demanddatabase system shared by many different organizations. The on-demanddatabase service may employ a single-tenant approach, a multi-tenantapproach, a virtualized approach, or any other type of databaseapproach. Communication with the database storage 1756 may be conductedvia the database switch 1752. The database storage 1756 may includevarious software components for handling database queries. Accordingly,the database switch 1752 may direct database queries transmitted byother components of the environment (e.g., the pods 1740 and 1744) tothe correct components within the database storage 1756.

FIG. 17B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,in accordance with some implementations. The pod 1744 may be used torender services to user(s) of the on-demand database service environment1700. The pod 1744 may include one or more content batch servers 1764,content search servers 1768, query servers 1782, file servers 1786,access control system (ACS) servers 1780, batch servers 1784, and appservers 1788. Also, the pod 1744 may include database instances 1790,quick file systems (QFS) 1792, and indexers 1794. Some or allcommunication between the servers in the pod 1744 may be transmitted viathe switch 1736.

In some implementations, the app servers 1788 may include a frameworkdedicated to the execution of procedures (e.g., programs, routines,scripts) for supporting the construction of applications provided by theon-demand database service environment 1700 via the pod 1744. One ormore instances of the app server 1788 may be configured to execute allor a portion of the operations of the services described herein.

In some implementations, as discussed above, the pod 1744 may includeone or more database instances 1790. A database instance 1790 may beconfigured as an MTS in which different organizations share access tothe same database, using the techniques described above. Databaseinformation may be transmitted to the indexer 1794, which may provide anindex of information available in the database 1790 to file servers1786. The QFS 1792 or other suitable filesystem may serve as arapid-access file system for storing and accessing information availablewithin the pod 1744. The QFS 1792 may support volume managementcapabilities, allowing many disks to be grouped together into a filesystem. The QFS 1792 may communicate with the database instances 1790,content search servers 1768 and/or indexers 1794 to identify, retrieve,move, and/or update data stored in the network file systems (NFS) 1796and/or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 1782 may communicatewith the NFS 1796 to retrieve and/or update information stored outsideof the pod 1744. The NFS 1796 may allow servers located in the pod 1744to access information over a network in a manner similar to how localstorage is accessed. Queries from the query servers 1722 may betransmitted to the NFS 1796 via the load balancer 1728, which maydistribute resource requests over various resources available in theon-demand database service environment 1700. The NFS 1796 may alsocommunicate with the QFS 1792 to update the information stored on theNFS 1796 and/or to provide information to the QFS 1792 for use byservers located within the pod 1744.

In some implementations, the content batch servers 1764 may handlerequests internal to the pod 1744. These requests may be long-runningand/or not tied to a particular customer, such as requests related tolog mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks. The content searchservers 1768 may provide query and indexer functions such as functionsallowing users to search through content stored in the on-demanddatabase service environment 1700. The file servers 1786 may managerequests for information stored in the file storage 1798, which maystore information such as documents, images, basic large objects(BLOBS), etc. The query servers 1782 may be used to retrieve informationfrom one or more file systems. For example, the query system 1782 mayreceive requests for information from the app servers 1788 and thentransmit information queries to the NFS 1796 located outside the pod1744. The ACS servers 1780 may control access to data, hardwareresources, or software resources called upon to render services providedby the pod 1744. The batch servers 1784 may process batch jobs, whichare used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers 1784may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers1788, to trigger the batch jobs.

While some of the disclosed implementations may be described withreference to a system having an application server providing a front endfor an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the disclosed implementations are not limited to multi-tenantdatabases nor deployment on application servers. Some implementationsmay be practiced using various database architectures such as ORACLE®,DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 illustrates one example of a computing device, configured inaccordance with one or more embodiments. According to variousembodiments, a system 1800 suitable for implementing embodimentsdescribed herein includes a processor 1801, a memory module 1803, astorage device 1805, an interface 1811, and a bus 1815 (e.g., a PCI busor other interconnection fabric.) System 1800 may operate as variety ofdevices such as an application server, a database server, or any otherdevice or service described herein. Although a particular configurationis described, a variety of alternative configurations are possible. Theprocessor 1801 may perform operations such as those described herein.Instructions for performing such operations may be embodied in thememory 1803, on one or more non-transitory computer readable media, oron some other storage device. Various specially configured devices canalso be used in place of or in addition to the processor 1801. Theinterface 1811 may be configured to send and receive data packets over anetwork. Examples of supported interfaces include, but are not limitedto: Ethernet, fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, frame relay, cable,digital subscriber line (DSL), token ring, Asynchronous Transfer Mode(ATM), High-Speed Serial Interface (HSSI), and Fiber Distributed DataInterface (FDDI). These interfaces may include ports appropriate forcommunication with the appropriate media. They may also include anindependent processor and/or volatile RAM. A computer system orcomputing device may include or communicate with a monitor, printer, orother suitable display for providing any of the results mentioned hereinto a user.

FIG. 19 illustrates a method 1900 for generating metadata entries for asmart contract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.The method 1900 may be used to create and store metadata entries andassociated identifiers so that the entries may later be used to updatetokens minted via the smart contract. According to various embodiments,the method 1900 may be implemented by one or more computing deviceswithin a computing system such as the on-demand database systemsdiscussed with respect to FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

A request is received at a database system at 1902 to generate metadataentries for a smart contract. According to various embodiments, therequest may be received from a database system account. For example, auser authorized to perform one or more actions on behalf of the databasesystem account may provide the request via a graphical user interface,application procedure interface, or other suitable interface.

One or more metadata attributes are identified at 1904. In someimplementations, the metadata attributes may be identified based oninput associated with the request to generate the metadata entries. Themetadata attributes may include one or more of various types ofattributes that may be associated with data objects. Examples ofparticular types of metadata attributes are discussed in the followingparagraphs.

In some embodiments, a metadata attribute may include an image, video,audio file, or other media representation. For instance, a metadataattribute may include an image, video, audio file, or other mediarepresentation of a character, a product, a work of art, or any otherrelevant subject.

In some embodiments, a metadata attribute may include an address oridentifier. For example, a metadata attribute may include an identifieruniquely identifying a file within a file system. As another example, ametadata attribute may include a uniform resource locator (URL) or otherweb-related address. As yet another example, a metadata attribute mayinclude an email address, a geographic address, an account identifier,or another type of addressor identifier.

In particular embodiments, a metadata attribute may include an addressthat uniquely identifies an image, video, audio file, or other mediarepresentation. For instance, the metadata attribute may uniquelyidentify a media representation stored in a publicly available location.One example of such a location is the InterPlanetary File System, apeer-to-peer hypermedia protocol. Another example of such a location isa media repository such as YouTube. Yet another example of such alocation is a public trust ledger such as a blockchain. Still anotherexample of such a location is Filecoin.

In some embodiments, a metadata attribute may include one or more textfields. Examples of text field metadata attributes may include, but arenot limited to: color, shape, and size. Indeed, a text field metadataattribute may be user-configurable and therefore may include anyproperty that a non-fungible token may possess.

Metadata values corresponding with the metadata attributes areidentified at 1906. In some implementations, the metadata values may beidentified based on input associated with the request to generate themetadata entries. The specific metadata values may depend on themetadata attributes identified at 1904. For example, suitable metadataattributes for the text field “color” may include the values “green,”“red,” and “blue,” one or more of which are to be linked with aparticular token. As another example, suitable metadata attributes foran image may include a set of some number of images, one or more ofwhich are to be linked with a particular token.

A metadata entry is selected for creation at 1908. According to variousembodiments, metadata entries may be selected for creation in sequence,in parallel, or in any suitable order.

One or more metadata attribute values are determined at 1910. In someimplementations, the metadata entries may include combinations ofattributes and attribute values. For example, a particular metadataentry for an image of a green sneaker may include the attribute/valuecombinations “color:green” and “type:sneaker”. The metadata entrycorresponding with the sneaker may also include an “image” attributehaving as a value a URL or other identifier uniquely identifying theimage of the sneaker where it is stored in the distributed file system,as discussed with respect to FIG. 20 . The value may be determined asdescribed with respect to the operation 1912.

In some implementations, particular values and/or combinations of valuesmay be associated with a level of rarity. For example, the color “blue”may be associated with a rarity level identifying, for instance, a totalnumber of times the color blue will occur, a frequency with which thecolor blue will occur, or a probability that the color blue will beselected for a given metadata entry. As another example, particularcombinations of metadata attributes may be designated as having aparticular level of rarity. Rarity levels may be determined based onuser input, or may themselves be determined stochastically.

In particular embodiments, values or combinations of values may besegmented by type. For example, a token may have “rare” type that isknown to the customer in advance and which guarantees a rare combinationof attributes, the specific values of which are not revealed until afterthe customer receives the token.

In some embodiments, metadata entries combining metadata values fordifferent attributes may be generated using a combinatorial approach.For example, a set of colors (e.g., red, green, blue) may be combinedwith a set of sizes (e.g., small, medium, large) to produce a number ofunique metadata entries. Alternatively, or additionally, a stochasticapproach may be used, with values being drawn from one or morestatistical distribution. As yet another possibility, one or morecombinations may be specified based on user input.

In some embodiments, a metadata entry may include one or more dataobjects such as an image file. Such a data object may be stored as anattribute value. Alternatively, or additionally, a data object may bestored outside the metadata entry, with an address or identifierassociated with the data object stored as a value of a metadata entryattribute. When a metadata entry includes a data object, other metadataentry attributes may be selected so as to be consistent with the dataobject (or vice versa). For instance, a metadata entry may include as adata object an image of a green shoe of size medium. In such aconfiguration, the metadata entry may also include attribute/valuecombinations such as “size: medium” and “color: green.”

Metadata information is stored in the database system at 1912. Accordingto various embodiments, any or all of various types of information maybe stored in the database system. Such information may include, but isnot limited to: the identity of the smart contract, the metadata valueidentifiers, the metadata entries, the metadata attributes, the metadatavalues corresponding with those attributes, and combinations thereof.

A determination is made at 1914 as to whether to create an additionalmetadata entry. According to various embodiments, metadata entries maycontinue to be created, in sequence or in parallel, until one or moreterminating conditions are met. Terminating conditions may include, butare not limited to: a designated number of metadata entries, adesignated number of metadata entries of a particular type (e.g.,rarity), a designated period of time, and/or any other suitable criteriaor combination thereof.

FIG. 20 illustrates a method 2000 for recording metadata entries for asmart contract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.The method 2000 may be used to store some or all of the metadatainformation in a public location so that the entries may later be usedto update tokens minted via the smart contract. According to variousembodiments, the method 2000 may be implemented by one or more computingdevices within a computing system such as the on-demand database systemsdiscussed with respect to FIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

A request is received at a database system at 2002 to record one or moremetadata entries for a smart contract. According to various embodiments,the request may be received from a database system account. For example,a user authorized to perform one or more actions on behalf of thedatabase system account may provide the request via a graphical userinterface, application procedure interface, or other suitable interface.

A metadata entry is selected for recordation at 2004. According tovarious embodiments, metadata entries may be selected for recordation insequence, in parallel, or in any suitable order. The metadata entriesmay be recorded as described with respect to FIG. 19 .

A determination is made at 2006 as to whether to store one or more dataobjects in a distributed storage system. According to variousembodiments, a data object may be any object that could potentially beincluded in or referenced by a metadata entry. For instance, a dataobject may be a media representation such as one or more image files,video files, audio files, or other types of media.

In some implementations, any data object associated with a metadataobject may be stored in a distributed storage system. Alternatively,data objects may be stored in a distributed storage system only whenthey meet one or more criteria, such as exceeding a designated file sizethreshold.

A instruction is transmitted at 2008 to store some or all of themetadata values in a distributed storage system. According to variousembodiments, the instruction may cause a set of media objects such asimages, videos, audio files, and/or other media representations to bestored in a publicly accessible way. As used herein, the term“distributed storage system” may refer to any publicly accessiblelocation at which metadata may be stored in a relatively permanentfashion. For instance, the distributed storage system may be theInterPlanetary File System.

In particular embodiments, data objects may be stored within thedatabase system in addition to, or as part of, storage in thedistributed storage system. For instance, in the context of theInterPlanetary File System, a copy of the data object may be “pinned” tothe database system while a reference to the data object is uploaded toa remote location.

Identifiers corresponding with the metadata entries are determined at2010. In some implementations, the identifiers may be provided by thedistributed storage system. For example, the distributed storage systemmay respond to the request transmitted at 2008 with one or moreidentifiers corresponding with the metadata values stored in thedistributed storage system. In such a configuration, the identifiers maybe used to construct URLs or other addresses for accessing and uniquelyidentifying the metadata values.

In some embodiments, the identifiers may be determined by the databasesystem. In such a configuration, the identifiers may be included withthe instruction transmitted at 2008 so that the identifiers may be usedto identify the metadata stored in the distributed storage system.

The metadata entry is stored in the distributed storage system at 2012.In some embodiments, a metadata entry may be formatted as a JavaScriptObject Notation (JSON) file, Extensible Markup Language (XML) file, orother suitable format for storing metadata information.

According to various embodiments, the metadata entry may include some orall of the attribute values determined at 1910 and/or some or all of theidentifiers determined at 2010. For example, a metadata entry for agreen shoe of size medium may include attribute/value combinations of“size: medium” and “color: green”, along with an attribute “image”. Thevalue corresponding with the attribute image may be the identifier orrelated URL facilitating access to an image of a green, medium-sizedshoe stored within the distributed storage system.

A determination is made at 2014 as to whether to record an additionalmetadata entry. According to various embodiments, metadata entries maycontinue to be created, in sequence or in parallel, until one or moreterminating conditions are met.

In particular embodiments, techniques and mechanisms described hereinmay be used to store different types of information in differentlocations to take advantage of the characteristics of the differentstorage locations. For example, relatively large but unstructured filessuch as media representations may be stored in a relatively fixed andpublicly accessible location such as a distributed storage system. Asanother example, relatively small but structured files such as metadataattributes and text, address, or identifier values may be stored in adatabase system. As still another example, as discussed in the methods2100 and 2200 shown in FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 , linkages between particulartokens and particular metadata entries and values may be stored in animmutable location in the blockchain.

According to various embodiments, the operations shown in FIG. 20 may beperformed in an order or configuration different than that shown. Forexample, in some configurations, the distributed storage system maystore media items, while metadata entries including other metadatavalues may be stored in the database system. As another example, in someconfigurations, the distributed storage system may store metadataentries that include various metadata values, while the database systemmay store unique addresses or identifiers associated with these metadataentries.

FIG. 21 illustrates a method 2100 for minting tokens using a smartcontract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. Themethod 2100 may be used to mint tokens that may be subsequently linkedto metadata entries generated as discussed with respect to FIGS. 19 and20 . According to various embodiments, the method 2100 may beimplemented by one or more computing devices within a computing systemsuch as the on-demand database systems discussed with respect to FIG. 16, FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

A request is received at 2102 by a database system account to mint oneor more tokens from a smart contract. According to various embodiments,the database system account may be associated with a blockchain accountthat owns the smart contract. Such a relationship may be represented byone or more records within the database system, as shown with respect tothe architecture diagram in FIG. 3 .

In some implementations, the request may be received at 2102 aftermetadata entries have been generated as described with respect to FIGS.19 and 20 . Alternatively, the tokens may be minted first, and themetadata entries generated second. As still another possibility, theprocedures may be performed in parallel.

In some implementations, the request may be received from a userauthorized to perform one or more operations in the database system onbehalf of the database system account. For instance, the request may bereceived via a graphical user interface, an application procedureinterface, or any other suitable mechanism for communicating with theon-demand database system.

Authorization information associated with the database system account isidentified at 2104. In some implementations, the authorizationinformation may be collected at an earlier point in time and then storedwithin the database system. Alternatively, the authorization informationmay be provided as part of the method 2100. In either case, theauthorization information may allow the database system to perform oneor more blockchain-related applications on behalf of the database systemaccount.

One or more values for token minting are determined at 2106. In someimplementations, the one or more values may include a value that iscommon to all of the tokens being minted. Such values may includeattributes like a product type or a product brand.

In some embodiments, the one or more values may include a value that arespecific to particular tokens. For instance, a value such as “green” maybe associated with an attribute such as “color”.

In some embodiments, the one or more values may include a default valuethat is intended to be updated later, via a smart contract updatingprocedure such as the method 2200 shown in FIG. 22 .

One or more tokens are minted using the values at 2108. In someimplementations, the tokens may be minted by executing a smart contractdeployed on a blockchain. As discussed with respect to the operation2104, the smart contract may be executed by the database system actingon behalf of the database system account. Minting the tokens may involveproviding to the smart contract the values determined at 2106.

One or more database records representing the tokens are created at2110. According to various embodiments, the database records that arecreated may include any of the records shown in FIG. 3 , or any othersuitable records. For instance, each token may correspond with an assetor other entity within the database system.

FIG. 22 illustrates a method 2200 for updating one or more tokens usinga smart contract, performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.The method 2200 may be used to update tokens that were minted inaccordance with the method 2000 shown in FIG. 20 to link them with themetadata entries generated as discussed with respect to the method 1900shown in FIG. 19 . According to various embodiments, the method 2200 maybe implemented by one or more computing devices within a computingsystem such as the on-demand database systems discussed with respect toFIG. 16 , FIG. 17A, FIG. 17B, and FIG. 18 .

According to various embodiments, some techniques and mechanismsdescribed herein have been described as facilitating the updating ofattributes of tokens after the tokens have been minted. However, thesetechniques and mechanisms may also be used to generate tokens having oneor more attributes that are not fixed at the time. For instance, ratherthan generating a token having a default value, the token may be linkedwith a metadata entry created as discussed with respect to FIGS. 19 and20 at the time of minting. In such a situation, the method 2200 shown inFIG. 22 need not be performed to update the metadata values that aredefined at the time of minting.

A request is received by a database system account at 2202 to update oneor more metadata values associated with a token minted by a smartcontract. According to various embodiments, the request may be receivedfrom a user authorized to act on behalf of the database system account.

In some embodiments, the request may be received after one or more ofthe tokens have been transferred from the minter to a different party onthe blockchain. In this way, the attribute values of one or more of thetokens may be revealed only after they have been initially transferred.Alternatively, one or more of the tokens may be updated before such atransfer has occurred.

Wallet information associated with the database system account isidentified at 2204. According to various embodiments, wallet informationmay be identified in any of various ways. In a custodial walletconfiguration, authorization information such as a private key may bereceived from the database system account via a communication interfaceor may be retrieved from the database system if it is already stored inthe database system. In a non-custodial wallet configuration, anon-custodial wallet may be connected with the database system.

One or more updated metadata values for the token are determined at2206. A transaction is recorded in the blockchain at 2208 to record theone or more updated metadata values. In some embodiments, the one ormore updated metadata values may include a reference to one or more ofthe metadata entries created as described with respect to the method1900 shown in FIG. 19 .

In some implementations, the metadata values may be determined byexecuting a function in the smart contract. For instance, the smartcontract may include a function that, when executed, determines one ormore updated metadata values for a token and/or records a transaction inthe blockchain to record the one or more updated metadata values.

In some embodiments, the smart contract may be configured so that thefunction may be used to update a given metadata value only once. Forexample, the smart contract may be configured to select only the firsttransaction updating a metadata value as informative, and ignore anysubsequent transactions updating the metadata value. As another example,the function may be configured to terminate if a transaction updating agiven metadata value for a token has already been recorded.

According to various embodiments, the updated metadata value may bedetermined in any of various ways. For example, the function may beconfigured to randomly (or pseudo-randomly) determine an updatedmetadata value. As another example, the function may be configured toretrieve an updated metadata value from an oracle such as an applicationprocedure interface provided by the database system.

According to various embodiments, by updating the one or more metadatavalues and recording a transaction identifying the one or more updatedvalues on the blockchain, the token may effectively have one or morepotentially immutable attributes revealed after the token is minted. Forinstance, a customer may purchase or otherwise receive a token thatinitially lacks some or all of its salient characteristics. Then, afterthe token has been transferred, one or more of those salientcharacteristics may be revealed.

As one example of such a configuration, a brand may issue and transfer anumber of tokens as part of a promotional event, and then reveal thevalue of those tokens either all at once or selectively after some orall of the tokens have been transferred. As another example of such aconfiguration, customers may purchase tokens having one or more unknownattributes in a sort of lottery, with the actual characteristics of thepurchased tokens being revealed at a later point in time.

According to various embodiments, recording the transaction in theblockchain may be performed in any of various ways, depending on theconfiguration. In a custodial wallet configuration, the database systemmay execute the smart contract to determine the one or more updatedvalues and record the transaction on behalf of the wallet owner. In anon-custodial configuration, the database may communicate with thenon-custodial wallet to facilitate the same operations but performedoutside the database system. For instance, the wallet owner may receivea message from the database system, which is signed with the walletowner's private key to execute a smart contract and record a transactionin the blockchain.

One or more records in the database system are updated at 2210.According to various embodiments, the database system may be updated toinclude one or more records that identify the transaction recorded at2208.

Any of the disclosed implementations may be embodied in various types ofhardware, software, firmware, computer readable media, and combinationsthereof. For example, some techniques disclosed herein may beimplemented, at least in part, by computer-readable media that includeprogram instructions, state information, etc., for configuring acomputing system to perform various services and operations describedherein. Examples of program instructions include both machine code, suchas produced by a compiler, and higher-level code that may be executedvia an interpreter. Instructions may be embodied in any suitablelanguage such as, for example, Apex, Java, Python, C++, C, HTML, anyother markup language, JavaScript, ActiveX, VBScript, or Perl. Examplesof computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magneticmedia such as hard disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as flashmemory, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD);magneto-optical media; and other hardware devices such as read-onlymemory (“ROM”) devices and random-access memory (“RAM”) devices. Acomputer-readable medium may be any combination of such storage devices.

In the foregoing specification, various techniques and mechanisms mayhave been described in singular form for clarity. However, it should benoted that some embodiments include multiple iterations of a techniqueor multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless otherwise noted. Forexample, a system uses a processor in a variety of contexts but can usemultiple processors while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure unless otherwise noted. Similarly, various techniques andmechanisms may have been described as including a connection between twoentities. However, a connection does not necessarily mean a direct,unimpeded connection, as a variety of other entities (e.g., bridges,controllers, gateways, etc.) may reside between the two entities.

In the foregoing specification, reference was made in detail to specificembodiments including one or more of the best modes contemplated by theinventors. While various implementations have been described herein, itshould be understood that they have been presented by way of exampleonly, and not limitation. For example, some techniques and mechanismsare described herein in the context of on-demand computing environmentsthat include MTSs. However, the techniques of disclosed herein apply toa wide variety of computing environments. Particular embodiments may beimplemented without some or all of the specific details describedherein. In other instances, well known process operations have not beendescribed in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thedisclosed techniques. Accordingly, the breadth and scope of the presentapplication should not be limited by any of the implementationsdescribed herein, but should be defined only in accordance with theclaims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: transmitting aplurality of metadata entries from a database system to a distributedstorage system via a communication interface, the metadata entriescorresponding with a respective plurality of metadata identifiers;executing a first function in a smart contract deployed on a blockchainto mint a designated non-fungible token initially owned by a firstblockchain party corresponding with a database system account;identifying via a processor a first transaction transferring thedesignated non-fungible token to a second blockchain party differentfrom the first blockchain party; and executing a second function in thesmart contract to record a second transaction updating an attributevalue associated with the designated non-fungible token to include adesignated one of the plurality of metadata identifiers correspondingwith a designated one of the metadata entries.
 2. The method recited inclaim 1, wherein the second function in the smart contract is configuredto randomly or pseudo-randomly select the designated metadataidentifier.
 3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the secondfunction in the smart contract is configured to receive the designatedmetadata identifier from a remote location.
 4. The method recited inclaim 1, wherein the remote location is a communication interfaceassociated with the database system.
 5. The method recited in claim 1,the method further comprising: creating one or more database records inthe database system representing the second transaction.
 6. The methodrecited in claim 1, wherein the designated metadata entry includes areference to a media representation.
 7. The method recited in claim 6,wherein the media representation is an image.
 8. The method recited inclaim 6, wherein the reference to the media representation includes anidentifier associated with the distributed storage system.
 9. The methodrecited in claim 1, wherein the designated metadata entry includes oneor more text values.
 10. The method recited in claim 1, wherein thedatabase system stores in a database a plurality of database objectscorresponding with blockchain wallets, blockchain transactions, andblockchain tokens.
 11. The method recited in claim 10, wherein thedatabase is a dynamic schema database in which the plurality of databaseobjects are stored in a designated database table.
 12. The methodrecited in claim 1, wherein the smart contract is stored in a custodialwallet, and wherein the database system stores one or more credentialsauthorizing the database system to execute the smart contract on behalfof the database system account.
 13. The method recited in claim 1,wherein the smart contract is stored in a non-custodial wallet, andwherein the non-custodial wallet is connected with the database system.14. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the database system includesa multi-tenant database, and wherein the database system account is atenant within the multi-tenant database.
 15. A database system includinga processor and memory, the database system configured to perform amethod comprising: transmitting a plurality of metadata entries from thedatabase system to a distributed storage system via a communicationinterface, the metadata entries corresponding with a respectiveplurality of metadata identifiers; executing a first function in a smartcontract deployed on a blockchain to mint a designated non-fungibletoken initially owned by a first blockchain party corresponding with adatabase system account; identifying via the processor a firsttransaction transferring the designated non-fungible token to a secondblockchain party different from the first blockchain party; andexecuting a second function in the smart contract to record a secondtransaction updating an attribute value associated with the designatednon-fungible token to include a designated one of the plurality ofmetadata identifiers corresponding with a designated one of the metadataentries.
 16. The database system recited in claim 15, wherein the secondfunction in the smart contract is configured to randomly orpseudo-randomly select the designated metadata identifier.
 17. Thedatabase system recited in claim 15, wherein the second function in thesmart contract is configured to receive the designated metadataidentifier from a remote location.
 18. The database system recited inclaim 15, wherein the remote location is a communication interfaceassociated with the database system.
 19. The database system recited inclaim 15, wherein the designated metadata entry includes a reference toa media representation.
 20. One or more non-transitory computer readablemedia having instructions stored thereon for performing a method, themethod comprising: transmitting a plurality of metadata entries from adatabase system to a distributed storage system via a communicationinterface, the metadata entries corresponding with a respectiveplurality of metadata identifiers; executing a first function in a smartcontract deployed on a blockchain to mint a designated non-fungibletoken initially owned by a first blockchain party corresponding with adatabase system account; identifying via a processor a first transactiontransferring the designated non-fungible token to a second blockchainparty different from the first blockchain party; and executing a secondfunction in the smart contract to record a second transaction updatingan attribute value associated with the designated non-fungible token toinclude a designated one of the plurality of metadata identifierscorresponding with a designated one of the metadata entries.